Rock Glacier - Human Use

Human Use

Rock Glaciers in the Chilean Andes help supply the water for much of Chile, including the capital of Santiago. Mining operations in the high mountains have led to the degradation and destruction of more than two rock glaciers. Several copper mines dump their waste rock onto rock glaciers, which results in faster melting and higher velocity movement of these rock glaciers. The dumping of waste rock on the rock glaciers may lead to their destabilization. In of 2004, protesting irrigation farmers and environmentalists changed rules so new mining projects can no longer damage or alter rock glaciers in Chile.

Read more about this topic:  Rock Glacier

Famous quotes containing the word human:

    Nor is any evidence to be found, either in History or Human Nature, that nations are to be bribed out of a spirit of encroachment and aggression, by humiliations which nourish their pride, or by concessions that extend their resources and power.
    James Madison (1751–1836)

    If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the best of us walk about well wadded with stupidity.
    George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)